Former NBA All-Star Isaiah Thomas recently visited The Compound to chop it up and give his thoughts on the NBA playoffs as well as being Nikola Jokic’s teammate and watching his progression.
Isaiah said he is loving the playoffs this year and that it’s the first time in almost a decade that it felt wide open. He said it’s a good time to be a basketball fan right now.
He also said we’ve never really seen anything like Nikola Jokic. Thomas noted that he got to play with the Nuggets for one year (2018-19), so to see the Joker’s progression and how much of a superstar he’s become and how much of a humble guy remains is amazing. Isaiah said Jokic does things the right way, and usually when you do things the right way, the basketball gods reward you.
Set Free Richardson asks Isaiah to go into a bit all things we all don’t necessarily get to see about Jokic — his work ethic, the way he’s a student of the game. Isaiah said it’s funny because when people ask him that question he always says it is like basketball is a side job for Jokic. He just happens to be good at it, that’s how talented he is.
“Obviously, he works, he’s a student of the game, but, and he’s never told me this, I don’t know if he loves the game,” Thomas said. “And that’s not a bad thing.”
Thomas notes that Jokic is a man who is not going to say too many words and you don’t really find that in a superstar player.
“Superstar players are really like, kind of about themselves,” he said. “The energy and hype about them is created by them for the most part. He’s like so humble. So like, I’m just really good at the game. I’m going to do this tonight and then I’m going to just go back to the crib. I don’t want any extras.
“And then to say that about a two-time MVP, it’s like, unheard of. So like I said, it’s dope to see his progression.”
Thomas also said Jokic is a hell of a teammate and somebody that cares nothing about their individual statistics. He cares about the team and making people happy.
Set Free said it’s interesting that we all call him the Joker, but in the way Isaiah describes him he sounds more like Bruce Wayne because Bruce Wayne was this big figure but wanted to be in the back in the cut.
Isaiah tells the story of one game at halftime looking over and seeing Jokic playing a game on his phone. He says it illustrates how funny it is because you never see a superstar player that good just so nonchalant about the game. And he says it’s not even in a bad way, it’s just like I’m really good at this, I’m going to get 30-15-15 and we’ll move on to the next game.
“So Joker’s a hell of a player, but a hell of a dude as well,” Thomas said.
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